PARIS (JTA) — The French education minister pledged to continue teaching the Holocaust to French children.
Xavier Darcos pledged his "unchanged determination" to educate about the Holocaust during the second annual UNESCO-hosted international Holocaust Remembrance Day event in Paris.
His remarks came as anti-Jewish incidents in France have risen sharply since Israel’s Gaza offensive and after nationwide pro-Palestinian protests repeatedly likened the Israeli Star of David to the Nazi swastika.
Patrick de Carolis, the president of the France 2 television network, also spoke at the event to insist on his station’s "duty" to keep the memory of the Holocaust alive.
In 2000, France 2 aired a riot-inducing video of the alleged shooting death of a Palestinian boy, Mohammed al-Dura. Many have contested the inflammatory report’s authenticity.
Other speakers included Yuli Tamir, the Israeli education minister; Simone Veil, a Holocaust survivor who is the honorary president of the Foundation for the Memory of the Shoah; and Robert Badinter, a French senator and former justice minister.
